This week, we got our first real taste of the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette’s eight-speed automatic transmission and all-new Performance Data Recorder. The PDR uses a high-definition camera to record the driver’s point-of-view and also overlays the telemetry data from the car on the video. It’s a pretty useful little feature if you’re out on the racetrack a lot, but Chevrolet communications intern Courtney Moats recently discovered a second use for the PDR when she recorded her ALS ice bucket challenge using the system.
In the case that you’ve been living under a rock for the past week or so, the ALS ice bucket challenge requires you to take a video of yourself dumping a bucket full of water and ice on your head, otherwise you have to donate money to support ALS, also known as Lou Gherig’s disease. Many participants end up donating to the cause either way and do the ice bucket challenge for fun and so they can nominate their friends to do the same.
The PDR is less than ideal for recording videos outside the car, as the microphone is mounted within the cabin to capture the roar of the V8 engine. Still, we’d say it does the job pretty well for not being designed to record videos like this. Moats nominated fellow GM communications employees Chad Lyons, Mary Henige and Pete Lewis, so maybe we’ll see more ice bucket challenges recorded with the Corvette’s PDR in the future.
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